Zak Starkey, the drummer for the legendary rock band The Who, will continue to play with the band despite recent performance mishaps. Starkey, who is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, joined The Who’s touring lineup in 1996 and has since contributed to two of the band’s studio albums, “Endless Wire” in 2006 and “Who” in 2019.
The blunders caused alarm on stage and in the audience for Starkey’s recent performance. He expressed his regret for the errors, stating, “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry, guys.” These issues prompted The Who’s lead guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend, to acknowledge the situation and affirm Starkey’s place within the band.
Given the performance challenges, Townshend weighed in on the recent speculation about Starkey’s possible exit from The Who. He insisted that Starkey had not been asked to resign and dismissed rumors surrounding his departure. “He’s not being asked to step down from The Who,” Townshend confirmed, emphasizing that Starkey remains a vital member of the group.
The speculation had been building ever since a few days in which Starkey’s return to The Who was in doubt. A spokesperson for the band would later deny these rumors to Rolling Stone as well. Townshend admitted that he should have acted sooner to dispel the gossip, stating, “I owe Scott an apology for not crushing that rumor before it spread. He has been hurt by this.”
In answering those performance criticisms, Townshend said sound checks could have been better, creating challenges up on stage. He remarked, “Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the center of the stage is always the most difficult to work with.” He defended Starkey while acknowledging his mistakes, saying, “Roger did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologized. Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.”
The final resolution of these issues seems to have been considered a victory on both sides, with band and fans marching together into the sunset. Townshend referred to The Who as a family, and said he couldn’t be more optimistic as the band looks forward. “It’s over,” he wrote. We hope to return home from DC energized, inspired, and ready to work to create the change we imagine! He noted that personal and private communication problems had gotten worked out in a spirit of mutual assurance.
